


Schoolyard Crush

by iamfinallyhere



Category: Pitch (TV 2016)
Genre: Baseball, Crushes, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, One-Sided Attraction, Team Dynamics, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-10
Updated: 2016-10-10
Packaged: 2018-08-20 14:10:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8251997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamfinallyhere/pseuds/iamfinallyhere
Summary: Amelia is fairly certain she’s in his line of vision, but she might as well not even be in the same country, for all his focus on Ginny’s back.Oh, he has it. He has it bad.(Or, Tommy and Mike both have crushes on Ginny and Amelia does not care for it at all.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> Set after 1x03, but before the inevitable leak of Trevor and Ginny's photos.

  
  
It is Amelia’s job to read people. She bases snap-quick decisions on the simple twitch of an eyebrow from a prospective sponsor; the minute down turn of a client’s lips. She’s good at what she does.

And that’s why she’s currently managing the single most valuable commodity in Major League Baseball.  
  
  
  
She stands outside the open locker room door waiting for Ginny after a particularly hard-fought win. She is stoically unfazed and unimpressed with the shirtless men roaming around as some try to brazenly catch her attention by going through post-game stretches unnecessarily big and loud.  
  
When Ginny crosses the locker room, Amelia notices that her path takes her directly past Tommy Miller. Despite the moment of solidarity during the beanball feud with the Cardinals, Amelia is still wary of him. Ultimately, him regaining his starting position hinges on whether Ginny can perform or not and Amelia is not too trusting to think he won’t try to somehow usurp her client. Miller may have invited Ginny out for drinks after that game, but that’s no reason to abandon all suspicion when it comes to the older pitcher.  
  
Miller is sitting on the locker room bench, towel drying his just-showered curls when Ginny strolls by. He smirks at her and she answers with a perfunctory nod. He goes back to running the towel over his hair immediately after and she continues towards the exit. That’s when Amelia notices it.  
  
His hands pause briefly on his towel as his head tilts ever so slightly to allow his eyes to follow Ginny’s retreating form before re-focusing back on the floor to continue drying his hair. The moment is so short that it is easily missed by his teammates, but not Amelia.

No, never Amelia.

  
  
Over the next weeks, she watches as Miller’s cocky smirks turn to full-blown smiles in Ginny’s presence. He finds excuses to stand next to the rookie pitcher more often than not and at some point, the excuses stop and he just _does_ without preamble. He gives her light jocular punches to the shoulder and stands back to watch her roll her eyes at him, but Ginny’s smiling through it all and Amelia can see him begin to light up under her attention.

   
  
She’s walking with Ginny back to the team bus at the end of an away series in New York when Miller approaches them.  
  
“Hey, Baker. Me and the boys are heading straight to the bars. You in?” His raspy voice drawls lazily and carelessly. The hopeful look in his eye diminishes the effect and Amelia looks to Ginny for her answer.  
  
“Not tonight, man. I’m exhausted.” Ginny replies with a tired laugh. She doesn’t give away any sign of acknowledging Miller’s crush and Amelia has to wonder if she’s oblivious or just exercising her poker face.  
  
Amelia turns back to the other pitcher, face set in stone and daring him to try to cajole her client. She’s not surprised when that hopeful shine fades a bit and he shrugs nonchalantly.  
  
“’Knew you couldn’t hang.” He taunts playfully.

“Some of us just work our asses off harder than others, I guess.” Ginny pats her hand against his chest with a satisfied, tight-lipped smile and brushes past him. “Good night, Tommy.”  
  
Amelia shakes her head with a chuckle and moves past him as well. It’s almost inaudible, but she hears Miller’s soft “Good night, Baker” and when she does, she takes a glance over her shoulder to see his hand come up to his chest in the spot Ginny’s had been a moment before. Amelia is fairly certain she’s in his line of vision, but she might as well not even be in the same country, for all his focus on Ginny’s back.  
  
Oh, he has it.

He has it _bad_.

  
  
She is steps away from catching up to Ginny boarding the bus when she sees Mike Lawson off to the side in conversation with Al and Buck. He is seemingly disinterested as the two managers engage with each other in front of him. His eyes are looking behind her and she turns to follow his sight line.

  
“Are you kidding me?” She laughs lowly as she follows it to one distracted Tommy Miller.

 

  
Amelia is even more vigilant of Ginny’s teammates from that point on.  
  
She’s always noticed Mike’s fondness for Ginny and had chalked it up to mentorship for someone who had previously hero-worshipped him. She’s more than once almost intruded upon a poignant conversation (or as poignant as the two of them _can_ be) and stopped herself from interrupting by stepping back around a corner or ducking into a doorway. It had been important for the team captain and the latest rookie to bond; even moreso when they were pitcher and catcher.  
  
But the dialogue has since changed to something deeper, something with more subtext that Ginny, in her naivety, may be unaware of. Amelia is careful to stay within the shadows and observant from a distance. It wouldn’t do to confront them during one of these moments lest Amelia accidentally reveal something that Ginny had _not_ noticed.  
  
Ginny wasn’t signed to become a distraction for her teammates. She is, first and foremost, a talented ballplayer with much to contribute to her team. She would never stand for becoming one teammate’s object of affection let alone _two_. Amelia knows about Trevor, knows of the fallout from _that_ dalliance with another ballplayer and she nor Ginny are looking to repeat history.  
  


  
She warns Mike of the pitfalls of dating teammates after a particularly intense night together. They lie in a Denver hotel bed, breathless and flushed in afterglow with Mike coming down from a victory high and Amelia celebrating a lucrative sponsorship for Ginny.  
  
Amelia rolls onto her stomach and looks down at Mike on propped elbows. “Ginny doesn’t date ballplayers.”  
  
“What makes you think I want to date her?” Mike asks bluntly. He’s lying on his back and staring straight up. It’s such a dead giveaway that Amelia is tempted to laugh at him.  
  
“What makes you think I was talking about _you_?” Amelia croons back smoothly.  
  
His eyes flick over to her with a hint of uncertainty. “You’re talking about Miller?”  
  
“Partially.” She admits easily. “I knew you noticed him. And before your ego inflates, I’m not telling you out of jealousy. Any man who spends a modicum of time with Ginny would be stupid not to want her.”  
  
Mike snorts in amusement and turns his eyes back to the ceiling.  
  
“But she didn’t sign that contract to become a teammate’s girlfriend. She signed it to play ball and that’s what she’s going to do. That’s the _only_ thing she’s going to do.”  
  
Mike is quiet for a moment before he sighs in resignation, “You don’t think I know that?” He doesn’t bluster and he doesn’t try to lie his way out of admission. Both are admirable traits that remind Amelia of his age and experience.  
  
“You definitely know, but a part of you would love to try to see if she won’t stick to her code.” Amelia rolls out of bed and finds her bra and underwear at the foot of it. “The team doesn’t need to see you and Tommy Miller mooning over her. You and Miller have a shaky relationship as is.”  
  
Mike sits up and leans against the headboard. “You really think I’m going to fight Tommy for her? Please.” He scoffs and pulls her blouse from under his leg before tossing it to her. “I’m not so petty.”  
  
“You, no. _Him_ , yes.” With deft fingers, Amelia buttons up her top before searching for her skirt. “You’re thirty-six, he’s _twenty_ -six. Did you ever think rationally at that age? He’s got a schoolyard crush on her and he’s just biding his time until he gathers the courage to say something.” She flips over the blanket and checks underneath. “And when she rejects him, where will that leave the team?”  
  
“And if she doesn’t reject him?” Mike retorts, if only to be contrary.  
  
“Well, then, where would that leave _you_?”  
  
With a groan of frustration, Mike scrubs his hands over his face before throwing his hands up helplessly. “What do you want me to do? Talk to him? Tell him to get over his little crush? I don’t want to do that.”  
  
“You’re the team captain.” Amelia shimmies her pencil skirt up her long legs before zipping up the back. She bends down to pinch her stiletto heels between her fingers and grabs her purse. “You _have_ to do that.”  
  
Amelia doesn’t stay to hear his protest.  
  



End file.
